How the JCRC inspired New York officials to fight BDS

When New York public officials criticized Brooklyn College for hosting a BDS event with Judith Butler and Omar Barghouti, their claimed interest in the matter was that the college was a public, taxpayer-funded institution and that, at best, the event was “one-sided” and needed “balance.” Yet this wasn’t the first time New York officials had mobilized against BDS. In March 2012, some of these same elected officials issued public statements against a proposal for an Israel-boycott referendum at the Brooklyn-based Park Slope Food Coop—in a campaign coordinated by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York (JCRC-NY).